Monday, July 27, 2009

Rethinking Brownian Motion With The 'Emperor's New Clothes'

Thinking back to the classes that covered this, I NEVER thought Brownian Motion would be interesting but this is.....


Rethinking Brownian Motion With The 'Emperor's New Clothes':
"'Like Einstein, we used to think we could describe Brownian motion with a standard bell-shaped curve,' Granick said. 'But now, with the ability to measure very small distances much more precisely than was possible 100 years ago, we have found that we can have extremes much farther than previously imagined.'

....there were many features in full agreement with Einstein and the bell-shaped curve; but there were also features in significant disagreement. In those cases, the beads moved much farther than the common curve could predict. In those extreme displacements, diffusion behavior was not Gaussian, the researchers report. The behavior was exponential.

"These large displacements happen less often, but when they do occur, they are much bigger than we previously thought possible," Granick said."

Told you it was interesting!

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